Intervals are fractured sequentially with fracture plugs used to isolate zones below that have already been fractured. When the entirety of the interval is fractured it is desirable to remove the balls that have landed on the various fracture plugs and this is frequently done with production flow. The balance of each plug that defined the seat for the ball is frequently drilled out to allow as large an open passage as possible for subsequent production or injection. Drilling the plugs out is a time consuming process and for that reason is expensive for the well operator in the form of added costs for rigs needed for the drilling out process.
Some examples of systems where plugs or parts thereof are drilled out are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,958,940 and 2012/0152524. In an effort to avoid having to drill out the plugs before production or injection other techniques have been tried such as making some of the plug parts from material that is strong enough to handle the pressure differential but breaks down under applied heat but that still requires drilling to remove remnants. This technique is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,322,449; 8,056,638; 8,291,969; 8,272,446; 8,235,102; 8,327,926; 8,291,970 and 8,256,521. Water and heat are used to create plug component decomposition in U.S. Pat. No. 7,093,664 and 2005/0205266. Coatings that get chemically attacked are shown in US 2012/0318513. Corrosion of plugs is featured in US 2013/0206425. Plugs for passages made of dissolvable natural rock are disclosed in US2013/0248194. Plugs where components break down with a chemical, nuclear or ultraviolet light source are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,168,494 and 7,353,879.
More recently, controlled electrolytic materials have been described in US Publication 2011/0136707 and related applications filed the same day. The related applications are incorporated by reference herein as though fully set forth. What is needed and not provided in the art is a treating plug that has a sealing element that seals and fixates the plug against differential pressures. When it is time to remove the plug the body members of the plug are removed by a chemical agent and the sealing element is crushed or otherwise collapsed so that remnants can either be circulated out or fall to the hole bottom. The crushing of the element can also act to liberate the agent that removes the body portions of the plug or the agent can be either added to the wellbore or found in the wellbore. The desired result is the plugs with their ball seats are removed without drilling for maximizing flow either in production or injection after the fracturing is completed. The sealing element is run in behind a sleeve to protect it during running in. When the desired location is reached the seal material is wedged against the borehole wall by being forced out from behind the sleeve and up an adjacent ramp made of a disintegrating material. These and other aspects of the present invention will be more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the detailed description and the associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of the invention is to be determined from the appended claims.